There’s Mr. Winky

Sometimes it’s Just Not a Secret

There’s Mr. Winky

One of the things that I have found most humorous throughout our pregnancy odyssey, is that every single person who has performed an ultrasound on Lynn has asked one question and then made one follow up statement in response.

The question is, “Do you know the sex of your baby?”

When we have responded, “Yes,” without exception, the technician or doctor has pointed to the screen and said, “There’s Mr. Winky!”

Is That a Medical Term?

I am beginning to think that “There’s Mr. Winky,” is a medical term.

In our case, I found it exceptionally amusing, since no matter how hard they tried, they could rarely get a clear shot of his face, but Mr. Winky was always on the screen.

For you first time dads, let me tell you … it is hard to make out anything on the screen. The technician or doctor will typically give you a play-by-play or answer your questions as various images come up on screen.

I used to think, “Okay, there’s his face!” and the doctor would say, “That is his bladder.” So, I just gave up and let them tell me what I was seeing.

Do you want to know?

Since we have the technology, this is a question which couples have to face together. I used to believe that it is more common to know the sex of the baby prior to delivery, but as I did a little research, I discovered that there is much debate over the topic.

Various articles and blogs cited issues like gender stereotyping, gender disappointment, lack of mystery, missing out on the “Hollywood … It’s a girl” moment and more.

In some of the stories/blogs parents rattled on about receiving gender specific clothes, toys, dolls or stuffed animals, etc. Lynn and I were different; old school, I guess, but we wanted that! Lynn actually said, “I don’t want any of that gender neutral yellow or green!”

Another article cited that ultrasounds can be wrong. In our case, due to our ages (Lynn’s specifically) and health concerns, Lynn’s doctor ordered a test which was able to separate the baby’s DNA from Lynn and test for various health concerns including Down Syndrome and Edward Syndrome.

Since it was a DNA test, it also revealed the sex of the baby, so there was very little chance that the sex would be wrong.

Technology Abuse

There is debate about this test, as well. Will babies with Down Syndrome start to disappear? Will parents begin to use this DNA test to be selective about their child’s sex and terminate the pregnancy if the sex is not desirable?

For us; we chose to wait until we had several tests confirming the health of our baby before we told anyone that we were even pregnant.

Ultimately, the technology is here. It is up to us, as parents, to decide how we are going to use that technology and the moral consequences.